Issues in researching leadership in health care organizations

Abstract

Purpose

We provide a review of the research in this volume and suggest avenues for future research.

Design/methodology/approach

Review of the research in this volume and unstructured interviews with health care executives.

Findings

We identified the three central themes: (1) trust in leadership, (2) leading by example, and (3) multi-level leadership. For each of these themes, we highlight the shared concerns and findings, and provide commentary about the contribution to the literature on leadership.

Research implications

While relation-oriented leadership is important in health care, there is a danger of too much emphasis on relations in an already caring profession. Moreover, in most health care organizations, leadership is distributed and scholars need to adopt the appropriate methods to investigate these multi-level phenomena.

Practical implications

In health care organizations, hands-on leadership, through role modeling, may be necessary to promote change. However, practicing what you preach is not as easy as it may seem.

Value/originality

We provide a framework for understanding current research on leadership in health care organizations.

Citation

Simons, T. and Leroy, H. (2013), "Issues in researching leadership in health care organizations", Leading in Health Care Organizations: Improving Safety, Satisfaction and Financial Performance (Advances in Health Care Management, Vol. 14), Emerald Group Publishing Limited, Leeds, pp. 221-234. https://doi.org/10.1108/S1474-8231(2013)00000140014